REPENTANCE:

In the context of this sermon, the issue is not their personal sins of sexual immorality
or stealing. It is their attitude toward Christ. Peter charged his listeners with thinking that
Christ was a common criminal. He tells them to “repent,” that is, change their minds
concerning Christ. “From regarding Him as an impostor, a false Christ, they were now to
believe on Him as the true Messiah” (Gloag, who pours more into the word “repent” than
the text warrants, at least understands that the word “repent” in this context is a change of
mind about Christ).
Notice carefully what is going on in this passage. The people in Jerusalem thought of
Jesus as a mere man worthy of death. Peter proclaims Him to be the Messiah, who died
and arose, and tells them to “repent,” that is, change their minds about Him, so that they
could receive the remission of sins. Therefore, by “repent,” Peter is saying that they must
change their opinion concerning Christ and trust Him for forgiveness.
Peter also says, “let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the
remission of sins.” It sounds like Peter is saying that baptism is necessary for the
remission of sins, but elsewhere baptism is never said to be the condition of the remission
of sins. So, what does the expression “be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the
remission of sins” mean? Two explanations are possible.
In the Greek text “repent” is in the plural, “baptize” is in the singular and “receive” is
in the plural. The change from the plural to the singular and back to plural again suggests
that the baptism clause may be parenthetical. If so, Peter is saying that the condition of
the remission of sins is repentance. Baptism follows forgiveness.
On the other hand, the distance of the forgiveness phrase from the word “repent” and
it closeness to baptism seems to suggest that the remission of sin is connected to baptism.
That does not mean Peter is saying, “Be baptized in order to get remission.” It could
mean he is telling them, “Be baptized because your sins have been remitted.”
In support of this view is that fact that throughout Luke’s writings in both his gospel
and the book of Acts repentance, not baptism, is the condition of remission (Lk. 3:3. 13,
3, 5, 14:47, Acts 3:19, 5:31, 11:18, 17:30-31, 20:18, 20). Furthermore, the Greek word
translated “for” (eis) in the expression “for the remission of sins” can mean, “because.”
The people of Nineveh repented “at” (eis) the preaching of Jonah” (Mt. 12:41). They did
not repent in order to get the preaching of Jonah, but because of his preaching (See
comments on Mt. 3:11, esp. Dana and Mantey, p. 104).
John the Baptist preached repentance as the condition of forgiveness and baptism as a
sign that one had repented (See comments on Mt. 3:11). After Pentecost, Peter told
people to “repent” that their sins might be blotted out (Acts 3:19), but he made no
mention of baptism. In Acts 10:34-43, Peter preached that the condition of forgiveness is
faith. The people who heard him were forgiven before baptism was even mentioned (Acts
10:44- 48).
To sum up, Peter told the people in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost that they need
to repent for the remission of sins and be baptized because their sins had been forgiven.
In other words, “repent” in this passage means to change your mind about Christ and trust
Him for forgiveness. So, baptism here is an “expression of repentance” (F. F. Bruce, See
also Marshall),
In his book The Great Doctrines of the Bible, Williams Evans says,
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